Gone & Hungry
by EpicJDrolet
Summary: Lia and Cameron are two nobodies trapped in the mysterious dome that showed up one day. They live in Perdido Beach and do nothing all day but complain about their hunger and misuse their could-be-useful powers. But when Caine Soren sets his sights on these two individuals, they can be the two to unleash the ultimate power of the Gaiaphage... without them knowing.


_** 4 DAYS / 13 HOURS / 10 MINUTES...**_

One second there.

The next, Mr. Granger had disappeared. No smoke. No "poof". No anything aside from the sound of the chalk hitting the ground. The sound followed by screaming and panic, as we learned that everyone fifteen and older disappeared.

Orc, Howard and the other bullies took charge and people discovered that some kids – the freaks – had special powers.

Sure, it was cool at first. No parents to boss you around. No school. No rules... Then, over the next few weeks, all hell broke loose.

Animals mutated and a war broke out between the 'good guys' and 'bad guys'. By 'good guys', I mean "School Bus Sam", who took control of Perdido Beach by gaining respect by bossing kids around to put out a fire... and, by 'bad guys', I mean a jerk named Caine and the other losers from the stuck-up private school of Coates Academy. Did I mention the talking coyotes that allied with Caine in the war against Perdido?

Well, to sum it all up, this sucks.

And I'm hungry. Really freaking hungry.

Where's a Big Mac when you _need _one?

Anyway, It's not like I don't have powers of my own. I may not have one of the cooler powers, like Caine's telekinesis or Sam's ability to control light, but I have read – and control – thoughts. It does get annoying though. Especially in a big crowd.

_Weirdo._

The thought I hear the most: Cameron J. Jones is a weirdo. I sigh. Serves me right, being the loser who lives on top of the City Hall.

I scan the group of kids who wander past me. A shorter kid with shaggy brown hair glares at me atop my perch. _Thanks buddy._

I lay back, my head resting against the large clock that is the roof of the City Hall.

I sigh. "Another lonely day in this stupid FAYZ or ours."

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. We're all trapped within the magical dome that prevents us from leaving this shit show. We call it the FAYZ.

"It's a FAYZ." I remember Howard, Orc the bully's somewhat-smart lackey, say when he first conned the term.

I give a small chuckle to how that phrase has flipped this town upside-down. _If only this were only a FAYZ, Howard. If only._

I rest my hands behind my head, and close my eyes, quickly losing myself to the darkness of sleep.

_Left. Right. Left. Right._

The four thoughts that repeat over and over in my mind. Why? Because I'm a loner. That's right. Lia Rivers is a big, dumb, freaking loner.

Why? Because my best friend, Laura, had gone to Mexico for a trip a few weeks ago, my other friend, Julia, went on a family trip to Canada a day before all this crap happened, and my younger sister was at my dad's house in Texas.

So, that left me. The outcast with no one to turn to.

Well, no one _except _the ones who want to take use of my powers.

"Hi Lia!" two girls, both of whom were in my class when school was still running, who I still don't know their names. "Can we ask you..."

They speak together, like they share a mind. They probably do. Fashionistas. I'm more of a sweatpants-and-hoodie-type of girl, who tends to keep quiet and hang with people who talk enough to make me unnoticeable.

"About your futures?" That was my power. Touching any person's palm gave me the power to see their fortunes. Great in some cases, like myself, terrible in others, like these two morons. "Fine. Give me your palms."

The first girl on the left gives me her palm, and I close my eyes to see the vision that flashes in my mind.

I see the blonde girl, with a flower in her hair and tattered clothing, sitting on a rock by a lake (there's a lake in this gongshow?). Dead bodies and driftwood lay in the water and on the shore. The girl, who does not care about the bodies, draws in the sand with a stick.

A heart.

I gasp as the vision ends – normal procedure. "Well?" she asks, with puppy dog eyes and an anxious expression on her face.

"If I told you you lived, would that be enough?"

She shrugs. _I'm taking that as I yes._

"My turn!" says the brunette that stands beside her.

I take her palm, and explosions rock my head.

Gunfire shoots across my mind, and I hear a small cry. "Help!" cries the brunette with the tanned skin.

I look at her, on the ground. Her leg is burned _bad,_ with the bone being exposed to open air. She sits in a pool of blood, which also mats her hair and clothing. Tears streak down her otherwise ashy face, and, in her face, I see fear.

I open my eyes to a shock. I'm sweating _hard_.

The blonde whispers "That can't be good." to her friend, who just looks at me with a concerned expression.

"Hey, are you, okay?"

"No. No." I gasp. "I just need to... lie down." I say as I rush toward the nearest house, holding the vomit from spewing out of my mouth until I make it to the bathroom.

Then the tap turns on, and I double over and spew. The vomit continues to come for hours, before I faint on the bathroom floor, as night descends upon me.

_**3 DAYS / 5 HOURS / 45 MINUTES**_

__The light burns my retinas even through my eyelids. _I guess that's the magnified dome for you._

I sigh, and crack my back, before looking over the clock to the large plaza that sits below. _That's a lot of thoughts. _Is the first thing that comes to my mind as I look over the entire crowd of Perdido Beach.

Edilio, Quinn, Astrid, Brianna, Dekka... everyone is here. Everyone except the obvious few: Caine, Diana, Drake... the 'terrible trio'.

"Attention kids of Perdido Beach." Sam's voice booms around the city, and I instantly tune out the sounds of the voices.

And then I hear him call out. "Is Cameron Jones in the audience?"

I hang by my feet on the gutter of the roof, and swing down, suspending myself in mid-air. "Yes chief."

"I need a spy." he growls sternly, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Yeah? I want a Big Mac. Looks like neither of us will get our ways." I snap at him. I never liked Sam. Don't know why everyone looks up to him like a leader. His girlfriend – Astrid the Genius – would make a better leader than him. She practically ran the show already.

"I need someone who can turn invisible or read minds. But since Caine has Bug, looks like invisibility is out of the option."

_Oh shit._ I hear someone think. Bug.

"Done. Caine's going to raid the power plant. Hence why Computer Jack is no longer in session."

A shocked expression crosses Sam's face. "How?" he mutters. In response, I point behind me, to the location of Bug, and Sam fires a small orb of light at him. He turns visible fast enough to get a glimpse of him, before he retreats into the crowd of panicking kids.

"Kind of an idiot, that guy is." I say, retracting up to the roof. "If you ever need me, just call."

I smirk as I hear Sam freak out over this news. "Edilio! Get some men over to the Power Plant ASAP. I'll grab Orc and get over there too. Brianna, go scout over there, to be safe."

_Uh oh._

"Not the best idea, Chief." I yell over my shoulder. "Word is that Lia's been having some weird visions of dead – or badly injured, at least – people. Might want to ask her first."

I hear Sam mutter something incoherent. The f-bomb, most likely. Before he can call out, I cut him off. "She's not here."

Silence. Then. "Brianna! Go find Lia."

"Right." I hear Brianna, the girl with the power of superhuman speed, say before, most likely, running off somewhere. Word is that she's faster than a speeding bullet, though no one's been dumb enough to take that bet.

People start chatting before Sam shushes them, and moves on to his next topic. "Food."

My mouth waters at the word. "Is Albert Hillsborough in the audience?"

Aaaaaand, there goes my interest.

"Lia!" I crack my eyes open. My head hurts. My stomach churns.

_I feel like I'm going to throw up again._

"Lia!"

I walk outside the house, and see Brianna rushing from house to house. "Lia!"

"Want a reading?"

"I don't _want _one, but apparently something big's going to happen at the power plant, so I need to know what not to do."

I stare at her for a second, cocking my head to one side. "'K."

I grab her palm and close my eyes. I see her run around a group of Caine's thugs, before leaping off something and flying through the sky. Literally nothing else shows up afterwards, so I shrug.

"I didn't get anything bad, you just jumped off something and started gliding through the air."

Her face lights up, and I fear I might have said the wrong thing. "Really?"

"I didn't see you land, so I would not recommend you try it." I try to say, but only get out "I didn't—" before Brianna was well away from me.

"Nice chat we had!" I yell after her, waving desperately.

_I need some friends. _I think, as I sulk down the street toward the hotel on the top of the cliff. _Maybe Lana can heal broken spirits._

Sam's stupid meeting gets broken up, as Brianna returns from her quest to find Lia, before rushing down to the power plant. _Hyperactive, much?_

The few stragglers below – the morons of the town, as revealed by their thoughts – waddle around the square. Some lovey-dovey teens gaze off into the purplish sky at the (fake) sun setting on the painted sky.

_Wish I could be like them. Forget that we're trapped in a prison from Hell._

_ God, I wish my brother was here. _I think, as a tear rolls down my eye. He died during the battle against Caine and the coyotes – the "Battle of Thanksgiving" as some call it. Odd thing to say, my brother, Jackson was his name, was lucky. He didn't have to sit through this dumb shit.

"Screw this. Screw life!" I yell, uncontrollably, before jumping off the building.

_Okay, Jackson, I'll see you soon._


End file.
